From swallowing tapeworms to systematically starving yourself to death – chances are you think you’ve seen or heard of every hugely dangerous fad diet in the book, right? Well, health experts and dieticians thought the same – that is until a new crash weight loss plan crept out of the woodwork and took the whole lot of them by surprise.

Ladies and gentleman – introducing the cotton ball diet.

Having started as a rather bizarre curiosity few took seriously, the cotton ball diet has over the past few weeks started popping up all over YouTube, various diet forums and on other social networking sites. The problem is – as is the case with every other fad diet out there – not only is it wholly ineffective, but hideously unhealthy.

In the simplest of terms, the diet involves dipping cotton balls into a smoothie or fruit juice and swallowing up to five of them in one go. The theory is that by filling up on these fluffy lumps, you find yourself feeling duller and satisfied without having to eat any real food/calories.

Some are eating cotton balls to cut down the amount they have to eat – some are going one step further and eating only cotton balls.

Needless to say, the health community is once again up in arms and trying to warn the masses of the dangers this and all similar diets pose.

Not only is the diet completely and utterly flawed in its logic, but the overwhelming majority of cotton balls on the market today don’t actually contain any real cotton. Instead, they’re put together as cheaply as possible with polyester that’s been bleached to make it white – not exactly the healthiest cocktail to fill your body with.

Along with poisoning, those attempting the cotton ball diet also run a very high risk of choking, blocking their intestines and becoming dangerously ill due to malnutrition.

In large enough quantities or over time, the diet could prove fatal.

Such is the risk associated with the cotton ball diet that experts have deemed the practice less a fad eating plan and more a full-blown eating disorder.

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